Social work, trade unionism and the protection of vulnerable workers in the telecommunications sector

Abstract

This article examines the interface between social work, trade unionism and the protection of vulnerable workers in the telecommunications sector, with a particular focus on call-centre and telemarketing operators exposed to intensive and precarious forms of work organisation. It is a qualitative, descriptive-analytical study based on a review of Brazilian and international literature on productive restructuring, outsourcing, occupational health and trade union action in service industries, combined with the systematisation of professional practice in the social work department of a telecommunications workers’ union between 2017 and 2024. Drawing on critical labour studies and empirical research on call-centre work, the article argues that the sector combines intensive use of information technologies with performance targets, electronic monitoring and work intensification, producing significant impacts on workers’ physical and mental health, job stability and access to labour and social-security rights. In this context, social work within trade unions constitutes strategic mediation, identifying rights violations, linking workers to public policies and supporting collective responses to new forms of labour exploitation. The article concludes that, despite the constraints imposed by regressive labour reforms and the fragmentation of the working class, unions that incorporate social work into their structures enhance their capacity to protect vulnerable segments, particularly in highly outsourced and high-turnover value chains.